FATT PROJECTS RECEIVES IGC’s MID-CAREER INVESTMENT AWARD

I’m absolutely thrilled to say that Fatt Projects has been awarded the 2025 In Good Company Mid-Career Investment Award for theatre makers in the Midlands. 

This award will support me to think about the future of Fatt Projects, to build a business plan for the company, to think about what the future of Fatt Projects could be, and plan how we might get there. In many ways - it feels like hope. 

This award is a step towards establishing a year round programme of events for Fatt Projects in Birmingham, having more direct involvement in our local community, and trying to build a more sustainable source of income for me and other queer artists in the city. That still feels a while away, but it does feel possible with support like this. 

It feels helpful to talk in real terms about where we are and what this means. Fatt Projects has had almost no project funding since the end of 2022, when we received a small investment from University of Birmingham to continue delivering MOBILISE into 2023. We’ve relied on ticket sales and performance fees to keep things going, which has often meant not being able to start new projects not being able to deliver the events we wanted to, and sometimes taking on work we haven’t wanted to do in order to keep the lights on.

I think that many people think Fatt Projects is a team of people with ongoing organisational support and resource. In lots of ways I’m pleased it looks like that from the outside. However the reality is that at its biggest, Fatt Projects is a team of freelancers who come together to deliver specific projects/events when there is resource to do so. At its smallest Fatt Projects is me working 3-4 days a week around my gigs, often for no money, to keep small things happening and this has become more and more challenging in the climate we find ourselves in. 

That’s not to say I don’t love it or that it isn’t worth it - it absolutely is, but we absolutely couldn’t achieve what we do without the generosity, talent, and support of the people we work with, who so often give their time, skills, and energy even when there isn’t money on the table.

From its inception, Fatt Projects has been about trying to use performance and creativity to make a positive impact on the lives of queer people in big and small ways. However, recently I’ve recognised in myself a growing inability to think positively about the future, to feel like I have any power to make a difference, and a lack of purpose and direction.

In real-terms, this investment will allow me to breathe a bit easier for the next few months, but it will also provide the space to imagine, to recalibrate, and to think about what’s I want next for my work, what Fatt Projects could be, the impact it might have and how we might get there. 

I’m extremely grateful to In Good Company for giving me this award, and for making something like this available in the midlands in this economy, it is a real lifeline - the sector needs so much more of this.

Here’s to the next steps.

Adam (Fatt).